HOME > NEWS & PRESS > NEWS ITEM Kansas Wind Update - Wind for Schools projects popping up all over KansasShareThe CEP blog School is a great place to learn about natural resources and energy supply - and Kansas is lucky enough to be one of the six states involved in NREL’s pilot Wind for Schools project. Dan Nagengast of the Kansas Rural Center is facilitating the project through Ruth Douglas Miller and the Wind Application Center at K-State. Most of the WfS turbines are Skystreams, which produce just under 2 kilowatts. They will back off 40-90% of the energy used in a typical home, but they aren’t sized to majorly offset the energy usage of a school. However, the Skystreams have enormous educational value. They come with little radios that can transmit information to science classes. As the press release from the Concordia WfS project notes: USD 333 Classrooms can immediately read, collect, and monitor data from the Skystream Wind Turbine. A two-way remote unit has been placed in Dustin Bender’s classroom and Concordia Jr. /Sr. High School. (Last September, Dustin was selected to attend the National Wind for Schools Conference in Golden, Colorado.) The remote box allows easy data access and also can control power of the turbine. Our goal in the near future is to make this information accessible through our USD 333 website. Another neat aspect of WfS is how local communities and businesses pull together to get the turbines installed. Electric co-ops, contractors, volunteers - someone pours the pad, installs the pole, runs the line, etc. Another good exercise is figuring out siting -set-backs from buildings, electrical poles, and all those things you really don’t want a turbine to fall on. Highly unlikely, but it could happen. For more a summary of the Kansas Wind for Schools accomplishments so far, you can read the following report from Ruth Douglas Miller at the K-State Wind Application Center.
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